Furies, Classical Mythology. minor female divinities: the daughters of Gaea who punished crimes at the instigation of the victims: known to the Greeks as the Erinyes or Eumenides and to the Romans as the Furiae or Dirae. Originally there were an indefinite number, but were later restricted to Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.

late 14c., "fierce passion," from Old French furie (14c.), from Latin furia "violent passion, rage, madness," related to furere "to rage, be mad." Romans used Furiæ to translate Greek Erinyes, the collective name for the avenging deities sent from Tartarus to punish criminals (in later accounts three in number and female). Hence, figuratively, "an angry woman" (late 14c.).